Thousands of Google's Cafeteria Workers Unionized
This week as America celebrated Labor Day, the Washington Post told the story of how 4,000 cafeteria workers at Google quietly unionized during the pandemic:Google is famous for its cafeterias, which serve its legions of programmers and product managers everything from vegan poke to gourmet tacos - free. But the cooks and servers behind those meals are generally contractors who work for other companies, and do not get the generous perks and benefits reserved for Google employees. So over the past few years, thousands of them have unionized, securing higher wages, retirement benefits and free platinum health care coverage. Unite Here, a 300,000-member union of hotel and food service workers, has been steadily working to unionize Silicon Valley cafeteria workers since 2018, experiencing the most success at Google. Employed by the contract companies Compass and Guckenheimer, those unionized now make up about 90 percent of total food services workers at Google, according to the union. Workers have unionized at 23 Google offices nationwide, including in Seattle and San Jose. Now, the union is tackling new territory: the South.... Google workers in Atlanta employed by a different cafeteria company - Sodexo - presented their manager with a list of demands and said they plan to unionize.... [Last week] Sodexo and the union reached an agreement: Should a majority of workers choose to unionize, Sodexo would not try to block it. The article notes that more than 230 Starbucks locations have also voted to unionize since last year. But Google offers a case study in the difference it can make, according to the Post's summary of observations from D. Taylor, the president of Unite Here. "The average unionized worker at a Google cafeteria makes $24 an hour, pays little to nothing for health insurance and has access to a pension plan. At Sodexo-run Google cafeterias, workers make $15 an hour and pay premiums in the hundreds of dollars, Taylor said."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.